JC: The concept of ‘fail fast, fail often’ isn’t expired. It has been misunderstood or, at
the very least, taken too literally. And it’s not at all in opposition to building with
clarity and confidence.
Too many people interpret ‘fail fast’ to mean
pursuing ideas with recklessness because failure is
okay. Some even celebrate spectacular failures as a
form of progress. That way of thinking is a disaster.
What people should be doing is running lots of little
experiments to see what works. If something works
you keep doing it. If something fails it’s not a
catastrophe; it’s a learning experience. These small
tests are the exact thing that build clarity on what
works and what doesn’t and give you the confidence to
keep going.The subtitle of your book, ‘Building Products with
Confidence and Clarity’, seems like the opposite
of the maxim ‘Fail fast, fail often’. Is it and, by
extension, is that old slogan past its sell-by date?
Digby Baird, Christchurch, New ZealandQUESTION OF THE MONTHSend your questions to [email protected]
Practical
advice from
industry experts
PAMELA PAVLISCAK
Pavliscak collaborates
with companies to craft
emotionally intelligent
experiences. Her book,
Emotionally Intelligent
Design, charts a tech future with feeling.
w: pamela.is
t: @paminthelabJ CORNELIUS
Cornelius is the founder
and president of Nine
Labs, a digital product
strategy, design and
experience consultancy
operating in Atlanta and New York City.
w: http://www.ninelabs.com
t: @jcTORREY PODMAJERSKY
Based in the Greater
Seattle area,
Podmajersky is a UX
writer at Google and
author of the best-selling
book Strategic Writing for UX.
w: torreypodmajersky.com
t: @torreybirdTHIS MONTH FEATURING...
Emotional design
SUCCESS STORIES
What’s a really good example of a site or
app that gets emotional design right?
Shola Mendez, Manchester, UK
PP: Care, creativity and connection are
the core characteristics of emotionally
intelligent design. So I’m tempted to say
TikTok because it encourages creativity.
However, while there’s some level of
care by including a digital wellbeing
setting that limits use to two hours, it
still has many of the same issues you see
with other social media apps becauseit encourages social comparison rather
than authentic connection. Aside from
apps and sites, there’s a lot of interesting
experimentation with wearables that
convey or adapt to mood.Startups
SHORT-SIGHTED STARTUPS
You must meet many would-be startup
founders. What are the mistakes people
make when introducing themselves?
Billie-Jo Frederick, Boston, US
JC: The number one mistake I see is
people in love with their solution insteadLoops by J Cornelius is a practical guide to getting
products out of your mind’s eye and into the real world